About Me

What can I say besides that I'm a little insane. My mind works in a warped screwed up way that only a few selected people understand whats actually going on inside my brain. I get bored easily, which is probably why my brain comes up with these stupid ideas all the time.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The great thing about staying in the one place for such a long time, is that I can actually focus on the food! When I'm travelling, I love to try the local cuisine. But you can't always find what you want when you're running around sight seeing. Luckily, we had the help of the locals this time round to help me locate all the various sterotypical American cuisines I've always wanted to try!

Chilli cheese dog

Recommended by a true Texan. Apparently its one of the better ones we could get around our office.

Whilst the chilli cheese dog was nice, there were a few things that really worried me.

1. The sausage used is kinda.....plasticky. I can see my teeth marks from where I bit through the dog...2. The cheese on the dog......came from a trigger spray hose. CHEESE SHOULD NOT COME FROM A HOSE PEOPLE!

Chicken fried steak!

Essentially a steak fried in "fried chicken" batter. This is served with a white gravy and I got a side of green beans and mashed potatoes. The steak itself was nice, although I'm more of a fried chicken person. The white gravy was nice and spicy with the addition of lots of pepper. I think I would've liked this more if it was executed differently.

Popeyes!

I've always liked the sound of Popeyes. I'm expecting a sailor with a huge chin serving me behind the counter. Of course in my imagination, the food is anything but canned spinach! hehe I was wondering around looking for lunch one day, when my blood hound nose guided me to Popeyes with its delectable scent!

I ordered myself a spicy fried chicken set with a famous Popeyes biscuit and mashed potatoes with cajun gravy. I also got 6 nuggets, but they ended up giving me about 15 popcorn chicken looking things.

The fried chicken itself was nice. Very crispy and juicy chicken. But spice wise, I much prefer the KFC hot and spicy. The mashed potato with cajun gravy was very comforting, especially when I found bacon bits in it! haha

My favourite would have to be the biscuit and chicken nuggets. The biscuit was incredibly buttery, crumbly and fluffy all at the same time. It was like the butteriest, crumbliest but also the fluffiest scone you will ever taste! SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! The nuggets actually had alot more kick to it than the fried spicy chicken. Much more my taste.

Cheese and bacon burger with caramelised onion

I asked where can I grab a good burger for lunch, and was directed to Otto's directly below our office. I should've been a bit more specific with what I was asking, or I just didn't know what to order. But when I said burger, I meant something with meat. Not melted cheese with a side of burger!

barely squeezing the burger....

The cheese seriously made me sick. The rest of the burger was nice. Just need to cut down on the cheese. Too much cheese.....

Sausage and egg McGriddle with a hashbrown

Can't go to the US without Maccas. I couldn't decide between a sausage and egg McMuffin (my usual) and a sausage and egg McGriddle. Since you can't get a McGriddle in Australia, I just had to try it.

Innards

HmmMmmm perhaps I should've found out what a McGriddle was before I ordered it. Basically what I got was sausage, egg and cheese, inbetween 2 apple and cinamon pancakes.... It was both delicious and disgusting at the same time??

Cajun shrimp and oyster po'boy

OH MY GOD. This was one of my favourite meals in Houston. The cajun fried shrimp and oysters were amazingly flavoursome without losing the freshness of the seafood. A squeeze of lemon was all that was needed on my po'boy! Infact, I enjoyed this so much, I promised I had to visit again before I left!

Cajun fried oyster and catfish platter

I really REALLY like the cajun fried oysters. I do regret not ordering just fried oysters because......the catfish was terrible. It had that horrible muddy taste, which cannot be masked by all the tartar sauce in the world. And it wasn't just me having a bad batch. I did try catfish at other places and they all had that muddy taste. I might just stick with the oysters and shrimp in the future.

Anyone guess what this is?

Hidden in the back corner of the box was this strange object. I had no idea what it was. I gave it a few pokes with my fork when a few bits of batter fell off. Oh.....my......lord. They deep fried my corn cob....Tasted good though? Maybe because I was so severly craving veggies at this stage?

Biscuit with sausage gravy and scramble eggs

I thought I'd try something a bit different and ordered a biscuit and gravy. I assumed it would be good old brown meat juice gravy we get in Sydney, but its actually a white peppery gravy with some bits of crumbled sausage in it. This was extremely filling. I barely got through half of this. The biscuit was incredibly heavy once topped with the gravy and I found the scrambled eggs too overcooked for my liking.

Grits

My biscuit and gravy also came with a side of grits. I can't decribe how this tastes except that there is no taste. I had 2 spoonfuls and binned the rest.

Double tree choc chip cookie cheesecake

Essentially a gorgeous cheesecake that used a top notch choc chip cookie as the base. I've had the cookie on its own and that was eye-rolling good as it was. Used in a cheesecake was just genuis!

Princes burger

After my cheese overdose with the Otto burger, I tried out another burger in the Houston tunnels.

Oh my......the meat patty was incredibly juicy and beefy. It wasn't overwhelmed with cheese or sauce, which let me taste the quality of the patty. Really good burger. Really HUGE burger. I couldn't even finish my chips and onion rings (But have you noticed the size of the onion ring??).

NY Style pizza

Fresh made to order NY style pizza. The base was soft and chewy, making it easy to fold and consume! I love free food at work!

Crabcake sandwich

I am completely addicted to crabcake sandwiches! Especially ones that are crammed with chunks of crab meat. This was one of many free lunches I got at work. It was delicious even when cold!

Deep fried oreo

Need I say more?

Mushu pork!

hahah I didn't know mushu pork had a chinese name! I always assumed it was some weird name made up for Americans. And I had no idea what Mushu pork was! Basically its shredded pork stir fry which you wrap with peking duck wrappers and some hoi sin sauce. I'm definitely going to try and make this.

Crispy shrimp tempura roll

Basically a tempura shrim roll, rolled in tempura battered bits. It can't get any better than that.

Complimentry appetiser

So I went to a chinese restaurant to grab a quick bite for lunch. When I sat down, they put this plate of spring roll and fried wonton infront of me. Yes! Free food! I cut into my wonton thinking I'll take a shot of the inside. I didn't expect to see this though.....

"Why is it white?" you ask? Because that is creamed cheese. CHEEEEEESE!!! *faints*

Sunday, May 17, 2009

One of the great things about a business trip is that its all expenses paid! Woohoo!! And I did something I've never done before. Order room service! hehehe Well, I have ordered room service before, but never on my own bill! This was a great opportunity to lie in bed eating on the spare time I had off. Plus, anything I order earns me extra bonus points with Hilton! (I just got my statement and I am now a Gold VIP Member!).

Spicy shrimp and angel hair pasta

For some reason, they gave me 4 breadrolls to go with my pasta. FOUR! *SiGH* I gotta keep remembering Texas Size!

Wagyu beef burger

Innards!

Surprisingly, this was one of the better burgers I had in Houston. Really juicy and flavoursome beef patty with minimal toppings to distract you from that flavour! MmMMmm

Tricolour tortellini with shrimp and andouille

Bagel and Lox for breakkie

I'm not a huge fan of Lox. I much prefer the taste and texture of smoked salmon instead. (For those who don't know the different, Lox is cured, usually with salt. This is different to smoked salmon).

Buffalo wings

Pulled pork sandwich

This pulled pork sandwich I had was terrible! Incredibly salty from the excess BBQ sauce they used. I woke up at 3am in the morning gasping for water as I was sooooo dehydrated!

BLT with sweet potato "fries"

They were really generous with the bacon. This was a nice change from the usual BLT you get in Australia. The American style bacon was super crunchy and made a really nice snack when bits of them broke off! hehe Bacon chips! So good but sooo evil!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

One of the days in Houston, me and my friend decided to head to The Galleria for a bout of shopping. The minute the cab pulled up the front, I screamed "OMG! THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!!". The plan was to hit the shops and work up a serious appetite before coming back!

And boy was I glad we did! The menu was huge! I was half way through the menu when the waitress came back to take our order. I'm in hysterics going "OMG! The menu is so big, I feel like I'm reading Lord of the Rings! And I haven't even gotten to the cheesecakes yet!". She decided to give me another 10mins. Good thing...cos I got stuck at the cheesecake section! SO many choices!!!

I opted for an apptetizer, to save room for the cheesecake. So I ordered a chicken quesadilla and out came this monster.

This was huge! I was seriously struggling to finish this without all the salsa and sides. By the time I was done with this, I wasn't sure I could fit in a cheesecake. BUT. MUST. EAT. CHEESECAKE.

White chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake

This was sooo decadant yet not overly rich as the sweet and sour raspberry gave my tastebuds a bit of relief. The only thing I couldn't stomach was the cream.

That's A LOT OF CREAM PEOPLE!!!!

Chocolate oreo mudslide cheesecake - My takeaway goodie!

Original Strawberry cheesecake

I tried my friends strawberry cheesecake and had cheesecake envy! It was incredibly light and fluffy! I'm definitely ordering this next time!

And of course there is a next time! We dragged a few friends with us so we could go back for cheesecake!

YOU. ARE. MINE.

Frozen Iced Mango with a swirl of raspberry

Having eaten at the Cheesecake factory before, I knew I had to be very careful with my lunch selection to make sure I still had room in my stomach for dessert!

Crabcake sandwich

Jackpot! Delicious and a good size!

One of the better crabcake sandwiches I've had!

"Lunch size" serving of Meatloaf

"Lunch size" serving of shepherds pie

"Lunch size" fish and chips...with 3 fillets of fish

Someone was smart and got finger food - Stuffed mushrooms

Keylime cheesecake and Fresh Strawberry cheesecake to share

Since the Cheescake Factory virgins loved the food so much, we had to go back a third time! haha

Spicy Ahi Tempura rolls

Buffalo wings - Appetizer size

I've truely realised at this stage that I DON'T like buffalo wings. My taste buds seriously object to the vinegary taste of the buffalo wings. I'd much prefer a sweet and spicy wing, than a sour and spicy wing. It looks like most of us Aussies didn't enjoy this dish either. I much prefer the honey soy wings I make.

"Lunch Size" Spaghetti Arribiata

If I got served this in Sydney, I would've went "Wow! The restaurant is quite generous with their serving size!". Except this was supposed to be a 1/2 portion / Lunch size. I'd be scared to see normal size.

Roadside Sliders

I fully cracked up laughing when this was delivered! Check out the description of these sliders under the appetizer section:

Bite-sized Burgers on Mini-Buns Served with Grilled Onions, Pickles and Ketchup

HA! Bite-sized my butt. These were the size of Maccas cheeseburgers! hahaha